A Corrupt Government Machine That Tried to Punk WWII Veterans
As they endured their sheriff’s depredations, “wait ’til the boys get back!” became a mantra amongst McMinn County’s locals. As the vets drifted back home, they determined to change things. So they formed “The GI Nonpartisan Party” to contest the elections scheduled for August 2nd, 1946. With all county government offices on the line, especially that of sheriff, the stakes were high. The veterans were confident that their GI Nonpartisan Party would sweep to victory. However, the incumbents were equally confident that they would win. Sheriff Cantrell and his political machine knew that who counts the votes matters more than who votes. So all they had to do was control the ballot boxes.
Thus, the election hinged on poll watchers: sheriff’s deputies for the incumbents, and veterans for the challengers. Trouble began when a black man tried to vote at an Athens precinct, only for deputies to shoot him on the spot. The deputies then shut down the precinct, and held the veterans’ poll watchers captive. Soon, Sheriff Cantrell and other deputies arrived, sirens blazing, to seize the ballot boxes and move them to the jail. Word then spread throughout McMinn County that voting was to be cancelled, and all ballot boxes were to be taken to the jail. As Sheriff Cantrell and about 200 deputized henchmen barricaded themselves with the ballot boxes in the fortress-like county jail, it was put up or shut up time. The veterans decided to put up.